Gold inches up while surging silver adds to 14-year highs

[stack of shiny gold bars 3d illustration]
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Gold futures finished slightly higher while silver stretched its recent rally to the highest in more than 14 years on Thursday, supported by a weaker U.S. dollar as investors await Friday's data on personal consumption expenditures, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.

Weekly U.S. jobless claims fell to 218,000 from 232,000, with the surprise decrease somewhat easing concerns about the job market, curbing the appeal of safe-haven gold.

"The biggest short-term risk for gold is a hotter-than-expected PCE reading," Zaner Metals senior metals strategist Peter Grant said in a note. "If inflation surprises on the upside, it could boost the dollar and weigh on gold temporarily."

Gold ETFs have seen inflows totaling $10.5 billion in September, lifting YTD flows to ETFs to ~$50 billion, Citi Research's Kenny Hu wrote: "ETF has outshined all other gold demand sectors this year and is the single most important contributor to the gold price rally in our view."

Meanwhile, silver's rally has been driven by safe-haven demand and a strong inverse relationship with the U.S. dollar, according to Commonwealth Bank of Australia's Vivek Dhar, and risks are "tilted to the upside given the downside risks to the U.S. dollar and stronger structural safe-haven demand for silver."

Front-month Comex gold (XAUUSD:CUR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XAUUSD:CUR]) for September delivery ended +0.1% to $3,736.90/oz, its third-highest close in history, and front-month Comex September silver finished +2.1% to $44.697/oz, its best settlement value since May 2, 2011.

ETFs: (NYSEARCA:GLD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GLD]), (NYSEARCA:GDX [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GDX]), (IAU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/IAU]), (NUGT [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/NUGT]), (PHYS [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/PHYS]), (GLDM [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/GLDM]), (AAAU [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAAU]), (SGOL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SGOL]), (RING [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/RING]), (BAR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BAR]), (OUNZ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/OUNZ]), (NYSEARCA:SLV [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SLV]), (PSLV [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/PSLV]), (SIVR [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SIVR]), (NYSEARCA:SIL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SIL]), (SILJ [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SILJ])

MORE ON GOLD AND SILVER

* Gold Rally Driven By Massive ETF Inflows [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4825595-gold-rally-driven-by-massive-etf-inflows]
* Silver XAG/USD Rockets To Fresh 14-Year Highs On Dovish Fed And Robust Fundamental Outlook [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4825230-silver-xagusd-rockets-to-fresh-14-year-highs-on-dovish-fed-and-robust-fundamental-outlook]
* A Comparative Analysis Of Franco-Nevada, Wheaton Precious Metals, And Royal Gold [https://seekingalpha.com/article/4825128-comparative-analysis-of-franco-nevada-wheaton-precious-metals-and-royal-gold]